historical perspective, development of discourse about sexuality: "a history of categories or representations, a history of the different ways taht different historical cultures have put sexuality into language" - historical & constructed entity

erotes

4th cent. ad Greece: to have fixed sexual object choice of any kind is to be some sort of freak

discrete v. continuous sex

biology: are their boys and girls (i.e. two boxes) or is their a continuous spectrum? - consider atypical external genitals and atypical urinary openings - XY: penoclitoris called hypospadias and XX: clitoropenis called partial urogenital fusion with clitoromegaly

cultural categories, rules, behaviors, rights, responsibilities, privileges & personality traits assigned in a given culture to males & females (i.e. social construction), gender id is psychological constuct (sense of who and what they are)

places gender on single, bipolar construct (one or the other) - high of both femininity and masculinity is androgynous

parental manipulation theory

parents subconciously decide it would be better if their family's resources were focused on certain offspring and thus behave towards certain child in way that makes him/her become gay (and a "helper advantage" to nieces and nephews)

sexual interaction oriented theories: imprinting theory

critical period for imprinting of sexuality, early maturing males spend most of the time with other males (and they imprint on each other)

genetic/bio influence child temperment (aggression and activity levels) which causes them to gender non-conforming activities, they are not aroused by playmates b/c have similar temperments/activities/interests and thus erotic arousal comes from anxiety felt by those who are diff/exotic (exotic to erotic)

first serious attempts to explain causes of HS (beyond religious dogma (i.e. sin) and family environment): first theories suggested HS was inborn b/c no unusual enviro experiences AND discovery that HS behavior was common in animals too (450 species)

diff of external genitalia is unitypic (single set of structures with 2 possible destinies) and of internal organs is ambitypic (male and female structures are both present) - depending on triumph of A/E principle one set of internal genitalia will proliferate while other set vestigates

how hormones mold the brain

default brain is female and in order to make it male it must be exposed to testosterone (male brain structures differentiate too)

stein (1999) perinatal hormonal control theory

"central claim... is that a person's sexual orientation is inborn or determined at a very early age and as a result is 'wired into' his/her brain" i.e. brains of homos are different - most of the biological research on sexual orientation makes unjustified assumptions

stein (1999) 3 conceptual models of the role genes and other bio factors play in sex orientation

permissive model, direct model, indirect model

kaplan (1990) test

sampled testosterone in amniotic fluid of fetuses (follow up 18 years later and boys with lowest levels were gay)

each older brother increases odds of being gay by:

33-48% - due to maternal immune response to the presence of foreign cells in her blood during pregnancy

Gorski (1977)

rat hypothalamus is dimorphic (larger in males)

Locoste and Hooloway (1982)

corpus callosum in humans is dimorphic (female larger than males)

swaab (1990)

suprachiasmatic nucleus of hypothalamus in gay men is twice as large as in straight men (hypothalamus monitors sex drive and pituary gland) - "difference in homo is brain not the heart"

allen (1990)

unable to replicate swaab (but found that 2/4 structure of the interstitial nuclei of anterior hypothalamus (INAH 2 and 3) are larger in men

roselli (1995)

hypothalamus of "gay" buck sheep differs in size from that of "straight" bucks

LeVay (1991)

on average INAH 3 is larger in straight men than in gay men & women (but sampling problems)

tested exposure to odors that might be involved in sexual arousal (AND and EST) - EST fired up hypothalamus in straight men v. activate hypo. in women and gay men, AND fired up hypothalamus in straight women and gay men but activated straight men

Dickson (2005)

studied fruit flies and found gene to "determin all aspects of the flies sexual orientation & behavior)

pedigree analysis (how a trait is spread out among members of an extended family) - gay brothers have above random chance likelihood of sharing DNA markers in certain region of X chromosome (Xq28 region of X chromosome) - but straight brothers were not examined

evolutionary theory: does somehow contribue to reproductive success of family/group?

1. kin selection, 2. group selection (devote self to arts/other things that help all, gene there for intrinsic reason), 3. piggyback trait (gene there for a coincidental reason - HS associate with some other trait that leads to reproductive success)

% of population that never experiences disclosure

10%

cohen & savin-williams on disclosure (1996)

phase of internal awareness, to private acceptance, to public disclosure (integrating I to Me)

CASS

confusion, comparison, tolerance, acceptance, pride, synthesis

interpersonal congruence theory

stability and change in a person's life are influenced by the congruence or incongruence that exists in one's interpersonal environment (progression from one developmental stage to another is propelled by tension and incongruities within an interpersonal matrix)